[The Sixth Notebook]

Friday, July 27, 2007

This has been okay, but it's been like wobbling and weaving on a low brick wall when I could have just been cruising along on the sidewalk. I haven't quite put my finger on it, but The Sixth Notebook is just not working for me. But I love blogging, whatever first drew me to it is very much still there. So, I'll keep trying, until something feels good and really works. Hopefully, it will be THIS.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

I was meeting my friend Jeffrey for coffee at a restaurant. Once I got there, I noticed he seemed uncharacteristically harried and quiet, and looked a little windblown, unkempt. You have NO idea how unlike Jeff this is, he is always the picture of grace, sleek, neat, together, open, warm, collected, welcoming.

I had to go to the restroom right away, wishing I hadn't because I wanted to make the most of this rare occasion of seeing him. Couldn't wait though, so off I went, into this convoluted maze of hallways in the middle of this building. I couldn't find the restroom at first, but then stumbled across the door, nearly missing it. It was dark and strange in there, ceilings too high, strange angles and turns. When I emerged, I could not make out which hallway I should use, tried one and ended up going up some stairs that looked like they belonged in a grade school. Back down the stairs, whole other hallway, this one leading to the back stage of a music venue. I ducked back into the halls, took another one, this leading to an abandoned gym. All the equipment was silhouetted in dark blue light, looking creepy and dead, hand towels and pieces of track suits hanging off the handles and seats. Back into the mess of hallways, finally I got the right one back to this café, which feels now like just a small part of this huge old building.

I had become extremely agitated at the waste of time, and Jeff was slurping his coffee irritatedly and scribbling in a folder. He looked worse than before and something was the matter; concerned, I didn't bother him with the tale about my getting lost. Somehow, he had gotten drenched, completely soaked, even though he had not apparently moved from the booth. He said, "Let's go", and took my forearm. We went outside to where the street would be, but there was this treehouse fort thingy and we had to walk up a wooden ramp to get in. There were dogs up there who looked tired and detached, distracted. The roof started leaking. There was one little dog we had to get, a cute thing, Jeff's own dog, I gathered. He put the dog in my arms and we started to return outside, but for some reason we did not have to go down a ramp, but stairs, and not all the way down. The roof started leaking way more, then profusely. I thought, is this how Jeffrey got wet? Out from under the roof, we got sploooshed all of a sudden by a very powerful unexpected wave, as though we were at stormy seas. Things got darker, we rode this wave upward and I was extremely worried about this dog, holding as tightly as I could without hurting it. I could no longer see Jeff, but he was there, I could hear him saying something. What was odd was, his frame of mind did not seem to change at all, he did not become alarmed or any sudden new expression or mood, he just still seemed kind of rushed and irritated. Another couple of progressively higher and stronger waves pushed us upward, we just rode along. I don't remember feeling like swimming or struggling, just holding the dog and riding the waves. I felt badly for the ordinarily sunny Jeff, darkened today.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

I walked by an high-ceilinged school room at a college with lots of big windows. Over on one side was a nook for storage, recessed at the side of the chalkboard. There was a large shelf there with a basketball, a few cardboard boxes with jerseys hanging over the sides, football cleats and helmets, sack of white cheerleader gloves and ... a very old man. I drew in my breath, what is he doing up there? Very concerned, he looked terrified yet resigned - a haunting and horrible expression if you have ever seen it. I followed his eyes downward and there was this student in a basketball jersey looking up at him. His top expression was blank but underneath he was cackling. He was holding a red rope. I zipped away, and dreamed something entirely else and forgot completely about it. 100% out-of-my-brain forgot, *poof*. But then, feeling I was on my way back someplace, I walked through this school, just moseyin' right along, and - *gasp!!* there is the old man, hanging from the red rope, part of the shelf kicked down. Its contents were all over the floor in the nook, spilling forward toward me.

I brought my eyes downward, and there, right in front of me, eyes wide and glaring into mine, was the student, the killer. He was pissed. I thought, hysterically, you did this in front of big windows! Were you just hoping nobody would walk by? I ran like hell. I did not feel followed. I call the police, and 911 has a recorded message. I try again, I try again, I keep trying, running the whole time. I draw a blank from there until getting over this hill in Bellevue, Wa., where I found a very green lawn and sat down, then laid down, then, my phone still in my hand hitting redial, redial, I fell asleep.

Paramedics with swatches of light blue tarp (?) and a detached look and feel woke me up and handed me my phone. One said, "You are okay. You need to get up and go home, you are on a residential lawn." I said, "I've been trying to call 911 for HOURS it seems! No one will answer the phone, someone's committed a murder at the school!" He said, "Listen, get up, here", and he handed me his hand. I got up, he said, "Where do you live, we need to get you out of this private neighborhood." I didn't know how to answer at all, I had no answer. He led me to the ambulance and kinda shoved me up into the back and closed the door. I thought, this kind of detachment and cold behavior is odd for paramedics. I sat on the stretcher. Hearing rustling behind me, I turned my head around, and there was the student in the basketball jersey, grinning.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Hullo. Well, I can't work, so I'm playing a bit. We've got several of the big British Double Decker buses, but many of them are being used for the new Hop on-Hop off tour, and the ones that are used by Miguel and myself for the regular one-hour Hollywood tour are being given maintenance, so. The powers that be are being quite kind to us, finding other stuff for us to do, so my day, today, was spent taking other peoples' tours. I had a blast.

I started off on John the Trolley guy's tour:

Here is John, who does some pretty convincing impressions of the Hollywood stars whose stories he tells, as well as being highly informative and a lot of fun, and his trusty Trolley. On the road with him...

... I got the best look at/photo of the Hollywood Sign I've seen yet,

...and the Bronson Gate. Now, I usually see this several times a day myself when I give my own tour, but today there was this super cool Transformer guy in the archway.

I was then gonna go on wonderful Lisa's tour...

But then I found out I was on John Leigh the Rock Star's tour. Both of these peeps are amazing, intelligent, have awesome personalities and a lot to teach. On John's tour, we got to see people's houses in the Hollywood Hills, which was great for me because I love it there and want to live there. Even if I had a kajillion dollars, enough to have a house in Beverly Hills or Holmby Hills, I would still want to live in the Hollywood Hills. I'm a sucker for this town. We went up to Mulholland Drive, where I saw:

The Los Angeles Skyline (I really want to get this at night), and

The Hollywood Bowl with its acoustic shell and 18,000 seats. This is really the same shot, but I tipped the camera downward to try to focus on the Bowl. Then, we came back to the Chinese Theater Kiosk and I visited with:

Kelly! She rocks the house, yo

Robin, such a sweet and happy guy - if I'm low energy or in a bummed mood, his big smile never fails to cheer me up...

The cool guy with lots of tattoos whose name I can't EVER remember :P I suck

The lovely Mary, always working hard, very kind and welcoming. I did not get to see:

Brian, my boss' brother, who does this cool murder and mayhem Haunted Hollywood tour. I plan on taking that with Carson, Chi, Delane and a few other pals on Halloween this year. He wasn't there today :( But...

Richard was (he still is, it's only 5:25 p.m.). This is my boss whose family I work for. I feel pretty damn lucky to work for such great people. My camera's card was full at this point, or I would have taken one of his dad Fred, Kami who hired me, Gwen who is just a saint, Asher and some of Richard's other brothers, as well as James, Muhammed and some of the other cool characters I see from day to day. I will get them tomorrow or soon. I love Richard's family and all these folks.

Richard in his natural habitat.

So, today was cake. I took notes, I took pictures, I wore my regular clothes. And got paid :) I didn't get to see or snap everybody I wanted to, but I will, and I think now that I have a digital camera (THANKS, JOY!!!) I'll be documenting more of the day to day life I live here while working toward making my big dreams happen.

Monday, July 09, 2007

WOW:

Ratatouille is a masterwork from the first frame to the last, just amazing. Pixar keeps topping themselves in every conceivable way: graphics, cleverness in storytelling, making things modern and current without datedness, expressions and movement on characters' faces, I could go on and on. WOW.

Also amazing, Carson:I got to visit with my friend today - I do not get to see him very often, so that was rather fantastic. He is an amazing writer and story teller and is great with lights and camera. He is among the most intelligent people I have ever met, as well as being a deeply good human being. He fucking RULZ yo.

Joey's song, "Rust-eze Polka" will be featured among the film's all-star voice talent including Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, and Bonnie Hunt, among many others. For further information visit the 'CARS' official web site.

Miskulin's Grammy Award Winning Albums:

'Monster's Inc--Scream Factory Favorites': Riders In The Sky (2003)'Woody's Roundup Featuring Riders In The Sky': Riders In The Sky (2001)"